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Research Progress of Thermoelectric Materials, Modules and Applications

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A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Electronic Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 October 2025 | Viewed by 6748

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Dr. Mirosław Jakub Kruszewski

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Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, 141 Wołoska str., 02-507 Warsaw, Poland
Interests: thermoelectrics; skutterudites; energy conversion; powder metallurgy; metal-matrix composites
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Pawel Nieroda

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Materials Science and Ceramics, AGH University of Science and Technology, 30 Mickiewicza Ave., 30-059 Kraków, Poland
Interests: thermoelectrics; energy conversion; copper selenide; magnesium silicide; spark plasma sintering
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Providing sustainable energy to the World’s population is a major societal, technical, and scientific challenge in the 21st century as fossil fuel supplies decrease, while the World’s energy demand increases. Thermoelectric materials have potential applications in power generation devices that convert waste heat into electric current by the so-called Seebeck effect, thus providing alternative energy technology to reduce the dependence on traditional fossil fuels. Moreover, thermoelectric devices can be used as solid-state Peltier coolers, which do not use environmentally harmful fluids. Thermoelectric generators have the advantage of containing no moving parts, making them quiet, durable, and reliable. It is only recently that advances in materials development, theory, and computational tools have shown that thermoelectric devices can compete with traditional refrigeration technologies and be attractive for power generation.

This Special Issue aims to present a collection of articles describing recent advances in thermoelectric-related materials and technologies, ranging from material study to device development. Particular interest will be given to papers focused on both rapid and conventional synthesis of thermoelectric materials, the relationship of structure, microstructure, composition, processing, transport properties, and thermoelectric performance, theory and modeling, multi-scale characterization, design and applications of thermoelectric materials and devices for energy harvesting, cooling and temperature sensing, and many more.

I kindly invite you to submit a manuscript for this Special Issue. Full papers, communications, and reviews are welcomed. Your participation will ensure that this Special Issue becomes an essential contribution to the thermoelectric materials and energy community. Do not hesitate to contact me if you need more information.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Mirosław Jakub Kruszewski
Dr. Pawel Nieroda
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

thermoelectric materials
thermoelectric modules
thermoelectric thin films
thermoelectric energy harvesting
electrical properties
thermal properties
lattice thermal conductivity
first principles calculations
figure of merit
conversion efficiency

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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14 pages, 4862 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Solid-State Synthesis and Thermoelectric Properties of CuFeSe₂–CuFeS₂ Solid Solutions

by Soon-Man Jang and Il-Ho Kim

Materials 2025, 18(6), 1366; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma18061366 - 19 Mar 2025

Viewed by 365

Abstract

Thermoelectric technology, which converts heat and electricity into each other, has been attracting attention from the perspective of efficient energy utilization. Recently, eco-friendly and cost-effective Cu-based thermoelectric materials have been actively studied. In particular, efforts have been made to improve thermoelectric properties and enhance performance through the formation of solid solutions. This study examines the formation and thermoelectric properties of Cu-chalcogenide solid solutions between eskebornite (tetragonal CuFeSe₂) and chalcopyrite (tetragonal CuFeS₂), synthesized as CuFeSe_2−yS_y (y = 0–2) using solid-state synthesis. These compounds share similar crystal structures, which enable the formation of solid solutions that enhance phonon scattering and may potentially improve thermoelectric performance. As the S content (y) increased, the lattice parameters a and c decreased, attributed to the smaller ionic radius of S²⁻ compared to Se²⁻, as X-ray diffraction analysis identified single-phase regions for 0 ≤ y ≤ 0.4 and 1.6 ≤ y ≤ 2, respectively. However, for 0.8 ≤ y ≤ 1.2, a composite phase of eskebornite and chalcopyrite formed, indicating incomplete solid solution behavior in the intermediate range. Thermoelectric measurements showed a sharp increase in electrical conductivity with increasing S content, alongside a transition in the Seebeck coefficient from positive (p-type) to negative (n-type), attributed to the intrinsic semiconducting nature of the end-member compounds. Eskebornite behaves as a p-type semiconductor, whereas chalcopyrite is n-type, and their combination affects the carrier type and concentration. Despite these changes, the power factor did not show significant improvement due to the inverse relationship between electrical conductivity and the Seebeck coefficient. The thermal conductivity decreased significantly with solid solution formation, with CuFeSe_0.4S_1.6 exhibiting the lowest value of 0.97 Wm⁻¹K⁻¹ at 623 K, a result of enhanced phonon scattering at lattice imperfections and the mass fluctuation effect. This value is lower than the thermal conductivity values of single-phase eskebornite or chalcopyrite. However, the reduction in thermal conductivity was insufficient to compensate for the modest power factor, resulting in no substantial enhancement in the thermoelectric figure of merit. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research Progress of Thermoelectric Materials, Modules and Applications)

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14 pages, 22512 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Thermoelectric Properties of Cu₂S Doped with P, As, Sb and Bi—Theoretical and Experimental Studies

by Paweł Nieroda, Juliusz Leszczyński, Krzysztof Kapera, Paweł Rutkowski, Krzysztof Ziewiec, Aleksandra Szymańska, Mirosław J. Kruszewski, Małgorzata Rudnik and Andrzej Koleżyński

Materials 2024, 17(22), 5440; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17225440 - 7 Nov 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1110

Abstract

The aim of this work was to investigate the possibility of doping copper sulfide Cu₂S with selected fifth-group elements, potentially having a positive effect on the thermoelectric properties of the resulting materials. For the selected model structures, theoretical calculations and an analysis of the electronic structure and changes in the enthalpy of formation due to doping were performed using the WIEN2k package employing the Full-Potential Linearized Augmented Plane Wave (FP-LAPW) method within density functional theory (DFT) formalism. Polycrystalline materials with the nominal composition of Cu₃₂S₁₅X₁ (X = P, As, Sb, Bi) were synthesized in quartz ampoules, then sintered using the spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique and “SPS melting” method. The chemical and phase compositions of the obtained sinters were studied by X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Additionally, investigations of thermoelectric properties, i.e., electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient and thermal conductivity in the temperature range 300–920 K, were performed. The results of this study indicate that only phosphorus is successfully incorporated into the Cu₂S structure. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research Progress of Thermoelectric Materials, Modules and Applications)

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13 pages, 5427 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Machine Learning and First-Principle Predictions of Materials with Low Lattice Thermal Conductivity

by Chia-Min Lin, Abishek Khatri, Da Yan and Cheng-Chien Chen

Materials 2024, 17(21), 5372; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17215372 - 2 Nov 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1614

Abstract

We performed machine learning (ML) simulations and density functional theory (DFT) calculations to search for materials with low lattice thermal conductivity,

κ_{L}

. Several cadmium (Cd) compounds containing elements from the alkali metal and carbon groups including A₂CdX (A = [...] Read more.

We performed machine learning (ML) simulations and density functional theory (DFT) calculations to search for materials with low lattice thermal conductivity,

κ_{L}

. Several cadmium (Cd) compounds containing elements from the alkali metal and carbon groups including A₂CdX (A = Li, Na, and K; X = Pb, Sn, and Ge) are predicted by our ML models to exhibit very low

κ_{L}

values (<1.0 W/mK), rendering these materials suitable for potential thermal management and insulation applications. Further DFT calculations of electronic and transport properties indicate that the figure of merit,

Z T

, for the thermoelectric performance can exceed 1.0 in compounds such as K₂CdPb, K₂CdSn, and K₂CdGe, which are therefore also promising thermoelectric materials. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research Progress of Thermoelectric Materials, Modules and Applications)

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16 pages, 1776 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Thomson/Joule Power Compensation and the Measurement of the Thomson Coefficient

by Javier Garrido and José A. Manzanares

Materials 2024, 17(18), 4640; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17184640 - 21 Sep 2024

Viewed by 1056

Abstract

The energy transported by the electric current that circulates a thermoelectric element (TE) varies with position due to the Joule and Thomson effects. The Thomson effect may enhance or compensate the Joule effect. A method for measuring the Thomson coefficient of a TE is presented. This method is based on the total compensation of the Joule and Thomson effects. The electric current then flows without delivering power to the TE or absorbing power from it. For a TE, the global Thomson/Joule compensation ratio

{\bar{Φ}}_{T / J}

is defined as the ratio of the power absorbed by the current due to the Thomson effect and the power delivered by the current to the TE due to the Joule effect. It can be expressed as

{\bar{Φ}}_{T / J} = I_{0} / I

, where I is the electric current and

I_{0}

is the zero-power current, a quantity that is proportional to the average Thomson coefficient. When

I = I_{0}

, the Thomson effect exactly compensates the Joule effect and the net power delivered by the current to the TE is zero. Since the power delivered by the current is related to the temperature distribution, temperature measurements for currents around

I_{0}

can be used as the basis for a measurement technique of the Thomson coefficient. With varying current, the difference between the temperature at the center of the TE and the mean temperature between its extremes reverses its sign at the zero-power current,

I = I_{0}

. This observation suggests the possibility of measuring the Thomson coefficient, but a quantitative analysis is needed. With calculations using the constant transport coefficients model for

{B i}_{2} {({T e}_{0.94} {S e}_{0.06})}_{3}

and

{{({B i}_{0.25} {S b}_{0.75})}_{2} T e}_{3}

, it is theoretically shown that a null temperature detector with a sensitivity of the order of 1 mK allows for the accurate determination of the Thomson coefficient. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research Progress of Thermoelectric Materials, Modules and Applications)

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Graphical abstract

14 pages, 23098 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Influence of Sputtering Power on the Properties of Magnetron Sputtered Tin Selenide Films

by Krzysztof Mars, Mateusz Sałęga-Starzecki, Kinga M. Zawadzka and Elżbieta Godlewska

Materials 2024, 17(13), 3132; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17133132 - 26 Jun 2024

Viewed by 1504

Abstract

The ecofriendly tin selenide (SnSe) is expected to find multiple applications in optoelectronic, photovoltaic, and thermoelectric systems. This work is focused on the thermoelectric properties of thin films. SnSe single crystals exhibit excellent thermoelectric properties, but it is not so in the case of polycrystalline bulk materials. The investigations were motivated by the fact that nanostructuring may lead to an improvement in thermoelectric efficiency, which is evaluated through a dimensionless figure of merit, ZT = S² σ T/λ, where S is the Seebeck coefficient (V/K), σ is the electrical conductivity (S/m), λ is the thermal conductivity (W/mK), and T is the absolute temperature (K). The main objective of this work was to obtain SnSe films via magnetron sputtering of a single target. Instead of common radiofrequency (RF) magnetron sputtering with a high voltage alternating current (AC) power source, a modified direct current (DC) power supply was employed. This technique in the classical version is not suitable for sputtering targets with relatively low thermal and electrical conductivity, such as SnSe. The proposed solution enabled stable sputtering of this target without detrimental cracking and arcing and resulted in high-quality polycrystalline SnSe films with unprecedented high values of ZT equal to 0.5 at a relatively low temperature of 530 K. All parameters included in ZT were measured in one setup, i.e., Linseis Thin Film Analyzer (TFA). The SnSe films were deposited at sputtering powers of 120, 140, and 170 W. They had the same orthorhombic structure, as determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), but the thickness and microstructure examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were dependent on the sputtering power. It was demonstrated that thermoelectric efficiency improved with increasing sputtering power and stable values were attained after two heating–cooling cycles. This research additionally provides further insights into the DC sputtering process and opens up new possibilities for magnetron sputtering technology. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research Progress of Thermoelectric Materials, Modules and Applications)

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